


Storge

by Error_is_Bae



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Angst, Anxiety, Eric Derekson has Autism, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Giant/Tiny, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rated T for swearing, Trans Male Character, Trauma, Yancy (A Heist with Markiplier) has ADHD, no beta we die like actor mark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-25 13:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30089931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Error_is_Bae/pseuds/Error_is_Bae
Summary: Storge - Ancient Greek term for familial love.As a moth boy, Eric is small. Very small, in fact. So when he's suddenly grabbed by a scaly hand many times bigger than him, it definitely stresses him out.
Relationships: Eric Derekson & Yancy (A Heist with Markiplier), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey there y'all! i had this idea in a dream and impulsively decided to write it. i don't have an update schedule so it'll just be updated whenever. i hope you enjoy!

Eric let out a contented sigh. This time of year was his favorite; right at the beginning of summer when the air had warmed up enough to be comfortable, combined with a light breeze sweeping through the area made for an absolutely perfect day to go for a little flight.

He fluttered his wings, flying through a lovely garden someone had set up around their house, gently shaking any excess pollen stuck to his arms and fur onto the flowers.

Twitching his antenna, he caught a whiff of a very familiar scent, one that was sweet and floral and absolutely divine. He turned midair, flapping his wings against a breeze that tried to sweep him away from following this delectable scent.

Eventually, he found the source of the scent: a splash of lavender flowers planted in a circular pattern in the north corner of the garden, gently waving in the wind. Eric recognized them immediately: his favorite species of flower, the most delicious, sweet, juicy, succulent flower he’d ever found.

He fluttered his wings and waved his hands in the air, overjoyed with excitement. Gently, he landed upon a nearby rock, using his lower arms to keep himself balanced (it was decently hard to stand without legs, after all,) then proceeded to tear away pieces of the juicy, lavender petals with his upper pair of arms. Greedily stuffing the soft petals in his mouth, he chewed happily, gently bouncing back and forth as his wings fluttered behind him in excitement.

His antennae twitched. Someone was near. He kept the thought in the back of his head while he ate, filling himself up on the subtle sweetness of the petals. He fluttered his wings again, and his antennae twitched once more as he took in the floral scent.

Suddenly, Eric was grasped from behind by large, rough hands covered in green scales. Black claws poked into his form and he squealed in terror as he was lifted from his perch upon the rock up into the air. He was turned to face his assailant, suddenly face to face with a very large lizard man, green scales covering most of his face, giving way to bright yellow eyes with slitted pupils. He looked Eric dead in the eyes, smiling and revealing many extremely sharp teeth.

"Hello there," he said, his voice thick with a strange accent somewhere between Boston and Jersey, tilting his head slightly.

Tears welled up in Eric's eyes. He was going to end up just like his brothers, he was going to be eaten alive, he was gonna die oh god he was gonna die oh god _oh god--_

"Woah, take it easy, little guy. I'm not gonna hurt youse," the lizard man tried to comfort Eric when he saw he had started crying, but Eric was too terrified to comprehend the words being said. The lizard man's grip on Eric loosened a little, allowing Eric to use his upper arms to push against his captor's hand, struggling to escape the confines of his fingers.

"Hey, hey, little guy, calm down. I'm not tryin' to hurt you." the lizard man still attempted to comfort Eric, apparently oblivious to the reason he was so panicked. He gently set Eric back down on the rock, releasing his hold on him almost completely. Eric tried to take the opportunity, flapping his wings rapidly as he tried to take off and escape, but the lizard man had almost completely crushed one of his wings, and without both wings functioning, he couldn't fly.

He was stuck.

"Moth boy, calm down. I'm just here to help youse." the lizard man raised his hands up in surrender. He looked concerned.

Eric sobbed, unable to look death in the face. "P-please don't hurt me."

The lizard man furrowed his brows then shook his head. "Listen, I think we's got off on the wrong claw here," he held out his hand, frowning when Eric flinched. "I'm Yancy. What's youse's name?"

Eric looked up at Yancy, tears still flowing down his face. Yancy gave a gentle smile as encouragement.

Eric closed his eyes. Hesitantly, he reached out a hand, tensing when he made contact with the tip of Yancy's pointer finger. He opened his eyes when nothing happened, looking up at Yancy who was still patiently smiling. and shaking it. "...Eric. I'm Eric."

Yancy grinned, his face splitting almost all the way open with razor-sharp teeth like some Lovecraftian abomination. Eric paled.

"It's nice to meet youse, Eric," Yancy said with a nod. "Now, I noticed that you, ah, forgive my bluntness, ain't got no legs."

Eric looked down at where his legs ended, two stumps just below the knee, and frowned, embarrassed. He nodded his head. "Y-yeah, that's me; double a-a-amputee."

Yancy gave Eric a sorry look, then stood up, making Eric flinch. Yancy didn’t notice, however, as he had started pacing.

"Well, one a' my friends is a doctor. See, I saw youse over here the otha' day, and I talked to my friend about gettin' youse fixed up, and he said that if I could get youse back to our place, he'd fix you up some prosthetics," he paced back and forth as he rambled, his tail leaving marks as it dragged along the grass behind him. He turned to look at Eric, fidgeting with his hands. "I thought you'd run if I got too close, so I tried to just catch youse, and-- yeah. Sorry 'bout that."

Eric gave Yancy a shy smile, wiping the slowly drying tears from his face. He almost understood Yancy’s thought process, so he could give a little sympathy, even if he hadn’t quite recovered from the shock of being grabbed. “A-apology accepted. But, uh,” Eric fidgeted with his fingers, averting his eyes, "how is your doctor friend meant to work on someone so... small?"

“Oh, don’t youse worry about that. He’s got real delicate talons, and he’s pretty small too. I mean, not like youse’s size small, but he’s smaller than I am,” he rambled again, talking with his hands.

“Talons?” So he was a bird. Birds eat moths. This might not go well.

“Yeah, talons. He’s a blue macaw.” Yancy grinned again, stretching his arms out wide to his sides in a T-pose. “His wings are massive! Youse  _ gotta _ see them, they’re so pretty! They’re a super deep blue and they almost  _ sparkle _ !”

As if he suddenly realizes he’s been rambling again, he stops short and tucks his arms back to his sides. He then clears his throat.

“Anyways. If you’d be willing to come with me, we could really get youse fixed up.” He smiled gently and extended a flat hand out to Eric.

Eric wasn’t entirely sure that going would make much of a difference. He didn’t exactly trust Yancy; as sweet as the guy was trying to be, he still snuck up behind Eric, grabbed him, and crushed his wing. He was also a lizard, which usually eat moths. On top of that, this doctor of his was a bird. Birds also usually eat moths. Long story short, Eric, as a moth, would be stuck with two or more people that very commonly want to eat him. However, Eric was worried if he didn’t go, Yancy might get angry and squish him here and now. It was either say no and risk getting eaten/squished with a 0% chance of getting prosthetics and fixing his wing or say yes and risk getting eaten with a small chance of fixing his wing. He didn’t really have much of a choice.

He took a deep breath and crawled forward onto Yancy’s hand. He grinned.

“Perfect. Trust me, youse gonna fit right in.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all! this chapter might seem a bit all over the place lol life hit me hard hfjekdlfhjwekds also dark saw eric and deadass went "alright. this is my child now." dhejsfledjlh okay enjoy

The walk wasn’t that long, but to Eric it felt like it took years.

He had been gently placed on Yancy’s shoulder and then they had set off toward what he called Ego Manor (which, Eric thought, already sounded scary enough) and, to put it lightly, Yancy scared him. He talked with his hands a lot and almost made Eric fall off his shoulder several times with how much he moved. On top of that, he often forgot just how loud his voice is, making Eric flinch every time he got too excited about whatever topic he was rambling about. And, to put the cherry on top of the reasons-why-Eric's-terrified-right-now cake, he had no idea what was waiting for him up ahead. He didn't even have a slight idea of what he was walking into. So, long story short, he was fucking petrified.

Then the manor came into view.

It was absolutely massive, 3 stories tall at the very least, and extraordinarily fancy. The exterior was built up of dark wood and stone, pillars of solid rock and wood sticking up out of the ground to support the several verandas and balconies strewn about respectively. The windows (of which there were easily 50 or so) were decorated with dark curtains and frames, intricate patterns carved into the wood. The garden outside was wonderfully kept, full of bright, colorful flowers, a sharp contrast to the gothic feel of the mansion before him.

Yancy seemed to notice Eric’s staring, as he spoke up: “Yeah, I know. It’s pretty and alls, but it’s so  _ dark _ . Then again,” he chuckled, “Dark was the one who designed the place, after all.” 

Eric gulped. There was a man named Dark here? That didn’t sound good.

They climbed the stairs onto the porch, but Yancy paused before opening the door. He turned to look at Eric (as best he could, as Eric was on his shoulder still.)   
“I’m gonna warn youse in advance, some of the people here are a little…  _ wild. _ ”

Eric thought he couldn’t be any more nervous, but Yancy proved him wrong.

“ _ Wild? _ W-what does that mean?”

“Well…” Yancy rubbed the back of his neck. “Some are excitable.  _ Very _ excitable. Some are irritable. Some are downright scary,” Yancy looked Eric in the eye, “But I promise that none of them would  _ ever _ hurt youse on purpose.”

Eric nodded. He could feel his hands shaking.

“A’ight. You ready?”

He wasn’t. He wasn’t anywhere close to ready. He wanted to take off in the other direction and get as far away from here as possible.

He nodded.

Yancy opened the door.

The moment he stepped inside, he was immediately greeted by a flamboyant dog man with bright pink hair and moustache popping in his face and screaming just about as loud as he could.

“WELCOME HOME YANCY!”

Eric couldn’t hold it in anymore. He burst into tears, heart thumping in his chest loud enough he could barely hear Yancy scolding their assailant for scaring him. He ran his fingers through his hair, gripping,  _ pulling _ at his scalp. Yancy and his housemate were still arguing, their words like gunshots in his ears, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t  _ think _ , oh  _ god _ he can’t breathe oh  _ god oh god oh _ **_god--_ **

“Wilford, Yancy, enough.”   
A figure stepped-- no,  _ slithered _ into view. An impossibly large snake man in a dark suit with an intimidating presence that demanded the attention of Yancy and Wilford, the snake half of his body coiling up behind him as he came to a halt in front of Yancy, looking at the delicate figure sobbing upon his shoulder. He furrowed his brows, then bent down to come closer to Eric.

“Hey. Can you hear me?” he spoke in the gentlest voice he could, trying not to scare Eric any more than he already was. Eric could just barely make out the words being said over the endless  _ pounding _ of blood in his ears. He nodded.

“Good. I need you to focus on my words. Can you do that for me?” Another nod.

“Alright. Look around you and find five things you can see. Say them out loud.”   
Eric nodded and looked around. In between wheezes and sobs, he listed out, “M-my hands, the door, a w-window, your tail, Yancy’s s-scales.”   
“Good job,” the snake man continued, “Now name four things you can feel.”   
Once again, Eric listed, “Y-yancy’s shirt, my fuzz, Yancy’s scales, m-my shirt.”

“Good, good. Now do three things you can hear.”

Eric paused and listened. He distantly noticed he could now hear a lot better now that his heart wasn’t pounding nearly as hard. “M-my own breathing, t-the birds outside, and wind blowing.”

“We’re almost done,” the snake man encouraged. “Now list two things you can smell for me.”

Eric took a deep breath now that he could control his breathing. “F-flowers and… Yancy’s breath.” Yancy made an offended noise.

“Last one. Name one thing you can taste.”

“The n-nectar from the flowers I had this morning.”

The snake man smiled a barely-noticeable smile. “You did great. Now,” he straightened (Eric was shocked at just how large he was-- almost 3 heads taller than Yancy without even standing at full height) and looked at Yancy, who had been sharing a surprised look with Wilford. “Yancy, who is this?” 

“Ah, right, sorry. Dark, this is Eric. Remember the moth boy I was tellin’ Dr. Iplier about? Yeah, this is him.”

Recognition flashed on Dark’s face. “Ah, so he’s here to get his prosthetics then?”

Eric nodded. “Y-yes, sir. I’m just here to get those a-and then I’ll be out of your scales.” Wilford’s tail wagged behind him as he quietly muttered to himself about, “just how  _ adorable _ you are, oh dear.”

Dark nodded. “Alright. Yancy, take him to Dr. Iplier’s clinic, get him sorted out.” Yancy nodded in affirmation and Dark slithered away.

“Well, see you soon, you two!” Wilford waved as Yancy turned away, his tail wagging behind him.

As they walked, Yancy started up a conversation. “I’ve never seen Dark act like that.”

Eric was confused. “W-what do you mean?”   
“I mean, his name is Dark for a reason. He’s usually all sortsa scary and intimidating. But,” he glanced at Eric, “with youse, he was…  _ soft. _ I’ve never even seen him  _ smile _ before, but you made him.” He shook his head, chuckling. “It’s just odd, is all. Don’t worry youse’s head about it.”

Despite Yancy’s reassurance, Eric worried about it. He didn’t like thinking about why Dark had (apparently) acted differently around him. What was his  _ purpose?  _ He didn’t know.

It made Eric nervous.

Yancy took Eric through seemingly endless twists and turns through the manor, leading him through neverending rooms that didn’t seem to always follow the laws of physics. Along the way, Eric saw some other members of the house; two identical chipmunks (the smallest members he saw, even though they were still many times bigger than him,) a lion in a blue shirt arguing with a tiger in a black tank top, and a squirrel whose face was covered in peanut butter.

He sees now what Yancy meant about some of the members being wild.

Eventually, they got to the clinic. Yancy knocked on the door and waited for someone inside, presumably Dr. Iplier, to respond, “Come in!” before entering.

The clinic was massive, hospital beds placed evenly throughout the room, metal cabinets on the far side presumably holding medical supplies. Against the wall in the center was a desk with a computer sat on it, covered in various papers and books. On one of the beds sat a shark man in a dark suit, holding out his hand as another man, a blue bird this time, dressed in scrubs wrapped bandages around it.

“I’m telling you, Doctor, I  _ was _ careful! It’s not easy to break down a whole body, you know.” complained the man on the bed. The doctor (this must be Dr. Iplier, Eric thought) nodded his head.

“Yes, I know, Bim, but still. You come in here almost every other day. At this rate I’m going to run out of bandages.” Dr. Iplier shook his head. “Please be more careful, for your sake and mine.” He finished tying the bandage and patted Bim’s arm, signalling he was free to go. Bim stood up, smiled at Dr. Iplier (with way too many very sharp teeth for Eric’s comfort,) and left the clinic from the far door. Dr. Iplier sighed, then turned to the pair, smiling, with his hands on his hips.

“Now, Yancy, it’s not every day I see you in here. Are you hurt?” 

Yancy shook his head. “Nah, I’m fine. My friend here, on the other hand, is less so.” He gestured to Eric, who raised a shaky hand and waved. Dr. Iplier’s face shifted to one of surprise, wings twitching behind him.

“Ah, so you managed to get the moth man to come with you?”

“Well…” Yancy scratched the back of his neck, sheepish. Dr. Iplier crossed his arms and shot an irritated look at Yancy.

“Yancy. What did you do?” he tapped his foot. Eric giggled a bit; it looked like Yancy was a child being scolded.

“I, ah, thought he’d run if I just approached him-- I would, if I were him-- so I, uh, might’ve just grabbed him out of the blue and crushed his wing in the process.”

Dr. Iplier took a deep breath in, closing his eyes. It looked like he was trying not to scream.

“I will deal with you in a moment, Yancy.” The frightened look on Yancy’s face told Eric everything he needed to know. “For now, let’s inspect your friend here.” Dr. Iplier stepped forward, holding out a hand towards Eric. “If you could come here for a moment-- It’s a little hard to see you on Yancy’s shoulder.”

Eric hesitantly crawled onto Dr. Iplier’s hand, flinching when he was pulled away from Yancy. Dr. Iplier pulled a magnifying glass out of his back pocket, then gently set Eric down on one of the many beds in the room. He knelt down, holding the magnifying glass to his face as he began to examine Eric’s wings.

“Ouch.” Dr. Iplier winced as he saw just how badly damaged Eric’s left wing was. “That’s not good.”

Eric internally panicked. “Is-- is it b-bad?”

“Very.” Dr. Iplier stood up. “There’s no way I can get your wing back in working order. It’s been crushed beyond repair. However,” he brightened a bit, “I do know how to do a transplant. You’ll be able to fly again if you’re alright with undergoing surgery.”

Eric processed this all in his head. His wings had been his pride and joy for a long time, and to learn that one of them was completely irreparable was a shock. He fidgeted with his fingers. If he got a new wing, what would it look like? What would  _ he _ look like with mismatched wings? Would he even survive the procedure? What if it went wrong? Questions and worries swirled through his head, a thunderstorm of anxiety building,  _ building _ , pressing against his skull, threatening to crack it right open and spill out into the world.

Suddenly, the far door to the clinic opened. Everyone's heads turned to look as an owl in a tan trenchcoat stepped in. He smiled softly and waved a hand in greeting, seemingly unbothered by the blood that dripped from his bandaged eyes.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Iplier. Are you busy?”


End file.
